Cool Stuff

Saturday, October 31, 2009

On 8 October, the rock crashed into the atmosphere above South Sulawesi Indonesia. The blast was heard by monitoring stations 10,000 miles away, according to a report by scientists at the University of Western Ontario.

Scientists are concerned that it was not spotted by any telescopes, and that had it been larger it could have caused a disaster.

The asteroid, estimated to have been around 10 metres (30ft) across, hit the atmosphere at an estimated 45,000mph. The sudden deceleration caused it to heat up rapidly and explode with the force of 50,000 tons of TNT.

Luckily, due to the height of the explosion – estimated at between 15 and 20 km (nine to 12 miles) above sea level – no damage was caused on the ground.

However, if the object had been slightly larger – 20 to 30 metres (60 to 90ft) across – it could easily have caused extensive damage and loss of life, say researchers.

Very few objects smaller than 100 meters (300ft) across have been spotted and catalogued by astronomers.

Friday, October 30, 2009

I think that most of us who have wondered why America is not prominent in the Bible in the last days now have our answer. Of course America did not exist in Bible times for anyone to write about. But surely the most powerful nation ever would have some veiled reference to it in the Bible. The answer is that we have a president trying to make America equal to every banana republic in the world. Galloping globalism, in fact, has almost every world leader acknowledging that all nations must be equal and play on a level field. There can be no superpowers.

I am conservative when it comes to throwing out conspiratorial words and phrases. I have little patience with those who e-mail me items trying to convince me that George W. Bush and his administration looked the other way so that 9/11 could happen. Such nonsense does not need to be cluttering our minds. I even reacted when President George H.W. Bush threw out the term “new world order” years ago. But only those ignorant of God’s prophetic word—and particularly in the book of Revelation—would deny that there is coming a new world system: A one-world government, one-world religion, one-world currency, and one-world leader.

So I was not surprised when a Fox News headline online stated, “Obama to Usher in New World Order at G-20.” Even ten years ago few thought that within a decade America would be tanking as it is now, due heavily to men and women in Washington who have little regard for our Constitution and who are power-hungry. While we have always had ardent communists and socialists in America, few thought they would rise to some of the highest positions in the country.

The English version of the Russian Daily, Pravda, wrote on April 27, 2009, “American capitalism gone without a whimper.” Quite shocking, isn’t it, since all of this happened almost overnight? The author, Stanislav Mishin, goes on to say, “It must be like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism happening with breathtaking speed.”

Many in leadership in America feel the government must save us from ourselves. We are too foolish to make the right decisions, and government, which has become god, must make them for us with policies that are just plain evil. Some of our nation’s leaders want to micromanage everything we do and buy from cradle to grave. America has become Orwellian in just a few months.

A few months ago Barack Obama said to the U.N. General Assembly, “We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.” Let’s clarify that statement as Obama is saying that America is just another country with no moral basis for world leadership. Further, in his America-bashing around the world in just less than a year, he has implied or stated firmly that American is flawed, so inherently sinful, that it cannot be trusted with, and does not merit the possession of overarching world power.

Furthering this road map to the one-world system be aware that in mid-December the “2009 United Nations’ Climate Change Conference will be held in Copenhagen.” Many who have read the treaty to be signed at that meeting suggest that the purpose of it is really global government. Global warming and climate change will just be the vehicles used and most every nation, including America represented by Barack Obama will sign it. It advocates transferring the wealth from rich countries to the poor.

As astounding as it may sound, this treaty will trump our Constitution! Because of that, if America is really to participate, the U.S. Senate must ratify it. The current Senate is a lackey to every left-wing cause in America and the world.

We do not yet know how this will play out. As this is written, Obama says he may not go to Copenhagen at all. Whether he is there or not, the purpose of Copenhagen will remain: Rush global government. I can only encourage you to continue to pray without ceasing for our great nation. The powers of darkness are trying to consume America. Many on the Left are in favor of this. Only the righteous can turn things around—if there is yet time to do so. We must never give up hope, for without hope, the heart grows sick.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The number of students staying home sick with the flu is multiplying nationwide and normally quiet school nurses' offices suddenly look like big city emergency rooms, packed with students too ill to finish the day.

The federal government has urged schools to close because of the swine flu only as a last resort. But schools are closing by the dozens as officials say they are being hit so hard and so fast by the H1N1 virus that they feel shutting down for a few days is the only feasible option.

"There was nothing else we could do," said Michael Frechette, the superintendent of Connecticut's Middletown Public Schools where a middle school closed for the rest of the week after 120 students stayed home sick Monday and another 25 were sent home by noon. "The only way to stop that transmittal was to keep the kids home for the rest of the week."

At least 351 schools were closed last week alone — affecting 126,000 students in 19 states, according to the U.S. Education Department. So far this school year, about 600 schools have temporarily shut their doors.

The number of closures this year appears on target to surpass the roughly 700 schools closed last spring when the swine flu outbreak first hit.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected in Israel Saturday night for her third visit since taking office, on her way to a meeting in Morocco that will include a number of Arab foreign ministers.

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who is scheduled to come to Israel shortly before Clinton, is expected to join her in Morocco.

The US administration has been trying, with little success until now, to get the Arab world - particularly Saudi Arabia - to make some normalization gestures toward Israel.

Clinton's visit, which aims to push forward the discussions with Israel and the Palestinians about agreeing to a framework for negotiations, will come a week before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu travels to Washington to attend the United Jewish Communities annual General Assembly.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

A Florida man says he was fired from his job at The Home Depot for wearing an American flag pin that said "One nation under God, indivisible."Trevor Keezer, 20, said he had worn the button ever since he started working at the home improvement retailer 19 months ago. He said it was his way of supporting U.S. troops, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Keezer, whose brother Army Spc. Steven Keezer Jr. is set to return to Iraq in December, said none of his supervisors had anything negative to say about the pin until last month when he began bringing his bible to work, the paper reported."That's when I was told it had to come off, or I would be sent home," Keezer told WPTV last week."So they sent me home for six straight days without pay. And then today they terminated me."

Home Depot spokesman Craig Fishel said he could not comment specifically on Keezer's termination but said, “The company’s dress code policy states that we do not allow non-company buttons, regardless of their message or content.”Fishel said The Home Depot has its own sanctioned patriotic pins that employees have the option to wear.

Keezer said he opted to wear his own pin instead because none of the company's pins mentioned God.

"You can't have country without God," said Keezer, the Sentinel reported.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
" is a term used to describe four horsemen that appear in the Christian Bible in chapter six of the Book of Revelation. The four horsemen are named after what they bring violence, famine, conquest, and disease.

The white horse symbolizes conquest. Many believe or interpret the white horse to be the anti-christ.Revelation 6:1 - 6:2 - "...When the Lamb had opened the first of the seven seals, I heard the first of the four beasts say with a thundering voice, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow: and there was given unto him a crown, and he departed as conqueror and to conquest."
The rider of the second horse or the red horse is believed to represent war. Revelation 6:4 - "And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword."

The third horseman or the black rider is believed to represent famine. Revelation 6:5 - 6:6 - “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.’”

The fourth horseman represents death and is pale in color. The pale color could represent sickness, death, or fear. Revelation 6:7 - 6:8 - “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a pale green horse; and he that sat on him was called Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, and that they(the four horsemen) should kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

For those that study Bible prophecy and know the lateness of the hour, you can hear the hoofbeats approaching in the distance.

I just found out that I received a very nice award yesterday from Whole Lotta Mama!

Here are the rules: 1) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me. 2) Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award. 3) Share "10 Honest Things" about myself. Here are "10 Honest Things" about myself:

1. I like football-the Philadelphia Egales are my favorite team.

2. I have scoliosis.

3. I'm very shy.

4. I am a mom to three great kids-two have left the nest.

5. I've been a Christian for 19 years.

6. I am a native of Colorado.

7. I work at home.

8. I have two doggies. A german shepphard and a cocker spaniel.

9. I hate eggs.

10. I'm nerdy and pretty boring lol I had a hard time thinking of 10 things to share about me!

I had a hard time picking 7 blogs because I love so many of them, but here is my list:

Saturday, October 24, 2009

President Obama Saturday declared the H1N1 flu a national emergency, clearing the way for legal waivers to allow hospitals and doctors offices to better handle a surge of new patients.

The proclamation will grant Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius the power to authorize the waivers as individual medical facilities request them, officials said.

It says that Obama does "hereby find and proclaim that, given that the rapid increase in illness across the Nation may overburden health care resources and that the temporary waiver of certain standard Federal requirements may be warranted in order to enable U.S. health care facilities to implement emergency operations plans, the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States constitutes a national emergency."

White House officials played down the dramatic-sounding language, saying the president's action was not prompted by a new assessment of the dangers posed to the public by the flu.

Friday, October 23, 2009

The arrest of a Massachusetts teacher of religion in a Muslim school for planning mass murders at malls and targeting American soldiers overseas has caused shock throughout the US. The suspect, an Egyptian-American named Tarek Mehanna, was arraigned in court Wednesday.

He was arrested and charged last year for lying about his ties with Daniel Maldonado, a Muslim convert who wanted to join al-Qaeda in Somalia. Prosecutors said that Mehanna also intended to kill, maim or kidnap two senior executives in the White House, both of whom no longer are in office. No other details of the targets were released except that they never were in any danger.

One of his co-conspirators is an American now living in Syria.

Disclosure of his plans follows by one month the arrest in Texas of a Jordanian teenager who plotted to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. An American court recently indicted an American resident of Afghan descent for planning a chemical bomb attack.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Ethiopian government has asked the international community for emergency food aid for 6.2 million people.

The request came at a meeting of donors to discuss the impact of a prolonged drought affecting parts of East Africa.

The UN's World Food Programme says $285m (£173m) will be needed in the next six months. Some aid officials say the numbers of hungry could rise.

Aid agency Oxfam has called for a new approach to tackling the risk of disaster in the country.

In a report marking 25 years since the famine that killed around one million Ethiopians, Oxfam said that imported food aid saves lives in the short term but did little to help communities withstand the next shock.

The report, named Band Aids and Beyond, called on international donors to adopt a new approach focused on preparing communities to prevent and deal with disasters before they strike.

"Drought does not need to mean hunger and destitution," said Penny Lawrence, Oxfam's international director, who has just returned from Ethiopia.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

A scholar and New York Times best-selling author hopes Americans will wake up and take the necessary steps to stop a globalist agenda that he believes threatens U.S. sovereignty.

Dr. Jerome Corsi's new book is called America for Sale: Fighting the New World Order, Surviving a Global Depression, and Preserving U.S.A. Sovereignty. The best-selling author says the globalism that Americans are currently witnessing is destructive to the American way of life.

"The deficits that we're running are unsustainable," he emphasizes. "Right now we're running the United States government on borrowed money from China and other foreign countries [that are] ready and willing to buy our debt."

He believes it is going to take grassroots effort by the American people to bring to a halt the rush to globalism. He cites the efforts of "21st-century American patriots" who have been participating at "Tea Party" rallies around the country in the past several months.

"I want to get more information and more strategy to [those types of] people who want to stop this move toward globalism and preserve U.S.A. sovereignty and get us back to limited constitutional government," he states.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Russia is ready to consider using the Russian and Chinese national currencies instead of the dollar in bilateral oil and gas dealings, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

The premier, currently on a visit to Beijing, said a final decision on the issue can only be made after a thorough expert analysis.

"Yesterday, energy companies, in particular Gazprom, raised the question of using the national currency. We are ready to examine the possibility of selling energy resources for rubles, but our Chinese partners need rubles for that. We are also ready to sell for yuans," Putin said.

He stressed that "there should be a balance here."

On Tuesday, Russia and China agreed terms for Russian gas deliveries at a level of up to 70 billion cubic meters a year. China also imports oil from Russia.

The Russian prime minister said the issue would be addressed among others at a meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) finance ministers, who are to convene before the end of the year in Kazakhstan.

Britain's Independent newspaper reported last Tuesday that Russian officials had held "secret meetings" with Arab states, China and France on ending the use of the U.S. dollar in international oil trade.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Pigs still can't fly, but this winter, the mayor of Moscow promises to keep it from snowing. For just a few million dollars, the mayor's office will hire the Russian Air Force to spray a fine chemical mist over the clouds before they reach the capital, forcing them to dump their snow outside the city. Authorities say this will be a boon for Moscow, which is typically covered with a blanket of snow from November to March. Road crews won't need to constantly clear the streets, and traffic - and quality of life - will undoubtedly improve.

The idea came from Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who is no stranger to playing God. In 2002, he spearheaded a project to reverse the flow of the vast River Ob through Siberia to help irrigate the country's parched Central Asian neighbors. Although that idea hasn't exactly turned out as planned - scientists have said it's not feasible - this time, Luzhkov says, there's no way he can fail. (See TIME's photo-essay "Vladimir Putin: Action Figure.")

Controlling the weather in Moscow is nothing new, he says. Ahead of the two main holidays celebrated in the city each year - Victory Day in May and City Day in September - the often cash-strapped air force is paid to make sure that it doesn't, well, rain on the parades. With a city budget of $40 billion a year (larger than New York City's budget), Moscow can easily afford the $2-3 million price tag to keep the skies blue as spectators watch the tanks and rocket launchers roll along Red Square. Now there's a new challenge for the air force: Moscow's notorious blizzards.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Jerusalem - Israel rejected Friday the United Nations Human Rights Council ratification of Judge Richard Goldstone's report on the fighting in and around the Gaza Strip at the turn of the year, and called on other countries to reject the council decision as well.

'The adoption of this resolution by the UNHRC impairs both the effort to protect human rights in accordance with international law, and the effort to promote peace in Middle East,' a Foreign Ministry statement issued Friday afternoon said.

Calling the UNHRC resolution 'unjust, the statement said it 'provides encouragement for terrorist organizations worldwide and undermines global peace.'

Some 25 states in the 47-member Human Rights Council voted in Geneva to accept the report and 11 delegates abstained. Six nations, including the United States and some European Union nations voted against the resolution.

The report, written by Goldstone, a South African war crimes prosecutor, and three other international experts, concluded that both Israel and the Hamas movement likely committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during their three weeks of fighting.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Talk about a biblical reference. Greenpeace and World March activists staged a "die-in" to protest nuclear weapons at Mount Megiddo on Wednesday.

Megiddo, according to Judeo-Christian sources, will be the place where good and evil slug it out at the end of days. The term Armageddon is derived from the place name.

The protest came just days after US President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in part for declaring his intentions to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

According to Greenpeace, there are 23,000 nuclear warheads in the world, and just 500 detonated at once would cause an Ice Age for 10 years.

During the "die-in," activists displayed a banner measuring eight meters by three meters which read "Disarmament or Armageddon."

Sharon Dolev, peace and disarmament campaigner for Greenpeace Tel Aviv, warned of the extreme danger of nuclear weapons, but also of the simplicity of their removal.

"The biggest threat to all of us is also the easiest to abolish. It is time that we all understand. The bomb represents the biggest threat. It is the opposite of security and therefore it is time our leaders stop playing with numbers and set a date to begin universal negotiations leading to a step-by-step mutual disarmament," he said in a statement.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Jews in the town of Mitzpe Yericho are taking practical steps to prepare for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, by preparing descendents of Cohanim (priests) and Levites for service. At the Mitzpe Yericho school, Temple priest hopefuls learn exactly how to conduct the daily Temple service and offer the required sacrifices.

"Today is really a historical event for the Jewish people,” organizer Levi Chazan said as another part of the school was completed. “It is the beginning of the work for the Third Temple.”

The school will include an exact replica of the Temple. The latest addition to the replica was the area in which priests offered wine and water libations. The water offering was traditionally given on the Sukkot holiday, which was celebrated last week.

Festivities accompanied the completion of another step in the school's construction. Among those present was Baruch Marzel, long-time Land of Israel activist and parliamentary aide to MK Michael Ben-Ari. The timing of the work on the school is particularly appropriate due to recent Muslim riots against Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, Marzel said.

Monday, October 12, 2009

For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.

And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise.

So what on Earth is going on?

Climate change sceptics, who passionately and consistently argue that man's influence on our climate is overstated, say they saw it coming.

They argue that there are natural cycles, over which we have no control, that dictate how warm the planet is. But what is the evidence for this?

During the last few decades of the 20th Century, our planet did warm quickly.VSceptics argue that the warming we observed was down to the energy from the Sun increasing. After all 98% of the Earth's warmth comes from the Sun.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Israel has been placed on alert for the prospect of widespread Palestinian violence throughout the West Bank.

Officials said Israel's military, police and intelligence services were ordered on high alert after the military has assessed that the ruling Fatah movement, in cooperation with elements within the Palestinian Authority, were organizing civil unrest as well as ambushes on Israeli soldiers and civilians.

Officials said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been pressed by senior members of Fatah to approve what was termed a "third intifada," or uprising.

"Abbas doesn't have to actually approve anything," the official said. "He just has to remain silent as PA officers and others are recruited to attack us."

"We know there has been strenuous efforts to expand the current unrest in Jerusalem to the West Bank," an official said.

On Oct. 8, Fatah called for a Palestinian general strike throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank. The movement ordered the shutdown to begin on the following day.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

By Ben PershingLegislation to punish hate crimes became a flashpoint on Capitol Hill on Thursday, as a measure expanding the definition of such crimes was attached to the bill outlining the Defense Department budget and approved by the House over the strong objections of Republicans.

House and Senate negotiators agreed earlier this week to attach the hate-crimes provision to the conference report for the $680 billion Defense Department authorization bill. The combined bill passed the House on Thursday, 281 to 146, with 131 Republicans and 15 Democrats in opposition. The measure must pass the Senate, in a vote that could come as early as next week, before it can head to President Obama's desk for his signature.

Congressional Republicans complained that appending the hate crimes provision to a bill laying out the Pentagon's budget for the coming year was an abuse of the legislative process and made U.S. troops "political pawns" in an unrelated social debate.

The provision would broaden the current definition of federal hate crimes to include attacks based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It would also create a new federal crime to cover attacks against U.S. military personnel because of their service.

"This is radical social policy that ... is being put on the defense authorization bill, on the backs of our soldiers, because they probably can't pass it on its own," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

Thursday, October 8, 2009

The auto-parts maker Delphi Corp. is headquartered in Troy, Mich., in the heart of the region that made the United States the car capital of the world. It's a place where the phrase "buy American" is right at home.

Now the 3,000 employees of Delphi's brake and suspension unit are getting a new boss. Battered by weak sales, Delphi is selling the unit to investors led by a company named Shougang Corp.

Shougang is a steel maker owned by the government of China — a government that calls itself communist but espouses a "socialist market economy" as it marches down globalization's road toward a capitalistic future.

"Everyone's so desperate for cash that the Chinese show up with a checkbook and people say, `Yes, please'," says Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Dragonomics, a Beijing research firm.

Explosive growth in China and India, coupled with Japan's clout as the world's No. 2 economy, has long been expected to shift economic power from the United States to Asia as this century progresses. The financial crisis and resulting Great Recession are accelerating that process.

Hal talks about the fundemental changes happening around the world, all of which are signs of the coming of Jesus Christ for His true Church (The Rapture) - signs we were instructed to watch for in Matthew 24.

The United Nations called on Tuesday for a new global reserve currency to end dollar supremacy which has allowed the United States the "privilege" of building a huge trade deficit.

"Important progress in managing imbalances can be made by reducing the reserve currency country?s 'privilege' to run external deficits in order to provide international liquidity," UN undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs, Sha Zukang, said.

Speaking at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Istanbul, he said: "It is timely to emphasise that such a system also creates a more equitable method of sharing the seigniorage derived from providing global liquidity."

He said: "Greater use of a truly global reserve currency, such as the IMF?s special drawing rights (SDRs), enables the seigniorage gained to be deployed for development purposes," he said.

The SDRs are the asset used in IMF transactions and are based on a basket of four currencies -- the dollar, euro, yen and pound -- which is calculated daily.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading

By Robert Fisk

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years.

Monday, October 5, 2009

The Bank, whose job it is to support low-income countries, has had to hand out so much cash in the wake of the financial crisis that it faces a shortfall in what it can spare for new projects within 12 months.

“By the middle of next year we will face serious constraints,” said its president Robert Zoellick, as he launched a major campaign to persuade rich nations to pour more money into the Washington-based institution.

He conceded that such a task was likely to be extremely difficult, given the difficulties facing countries in the wake of the developed world’s biggest recession since the Second World War.

Although the Bank has enough cash to fund existing projects and its day-to-day operations, the demands thrown up by the global recession have meant it may need extra capital contributions from rich nations to bolster its balance sheet if it is to satisfy such needs.

Mr Zoellick, speaking at the opening of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Istanbul, said the Bank needed a capital increase of $3bn-$5bn, though others suspect the eventual need could be higher still.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver. The leafless scrub, bleached white by the sun, looks like a forest of fake Christmas trees. Carcasses of cattle and camels are strewn about the burnt red dirt in every direction. Siridwa Baseli walks out of the haze along a path of the dead and dying. He passes a skeletal cow that has given up and collapsed under a thorn tree. A nomad from the Rendille people, he is driving his herd in search of water.

He marks time in seasons but knows that it has not rained for three years: "Since it is not raining there is no pasture," he says. Only 40 of his herd of sheep and goats that once numbered 200 have survived. Those that remain are dying at a rate of 10 every day.

Already a herder before Kenya's independence he has never seen a drought like this.

"If I was young I would go to look for cash work. I am old. I may just die with my animals."

Across East Africa an extraordinary drought is drying up rivers, and grasslands, scorching crops and threatening millions of people with starvation. In Kenya, the biggest and most robust economy in the region, the rivers that feed its great game reserves have run dry and since the country relies on hydropower, electricity is now rationed in the cities.

And yet, it is in the semi-desert on the southern fringe of the Sahel zone where the most dramatic changes are being felt. Droughts are nothing new here and the nomadic way of life where herders follow patchy rains across the seasons developed centuries ago as a response to precarious natural resources. The herds of cattle, sheep, goats and camels – which are venerated by the nomads – were built up in the good years to pad the margins of life when the rains failed. But this way of life is being overwhelmed, even the camels are dying of thirst.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

The Warriors of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High took the field on Friday night without any Bible verses written on the cheerleaders' banner.

Instead, the football team ran through a banner that read "This is Big Red Country" before each bent on a knee to pray on the field of Tommy Cash Stadium.

The spirited display comes after the school district banned the banners last week over concerns they were unconstitutional and could provoke a lawsuit, angering many in the deeply religious north Georgia town of Fort Oglethorpe.

"I'm just kind of unnerved about it," said 18-year-old Cassandra Cooksey, a recent graduate who often prayed with her fellow marching band members before football games. "It seems like the majority of people in our community want this and they don't have a problem with it, so I think they should be allowed to have the signs if they want to."

The move has galvanized the community. Hundreds of people attended a rally this week supporting the signs, which included messages such as: "Commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Many students attended class Friday wearing shirts with Bible verses and painted their cars with messages that read: "Warriors for Christ."

During the game, several other messages were visible in the packed stadium. Some people stood with signs that read "You Can't Silence Us" and some young men had Bible verses painted on their chests.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Rescue workers used excavators Thursday to pull out victims, some screaming in pain, from the heavy rubble of buildings felled by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 531 people. The death toll was expected to rise.The brunt of Wednesday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake, which originated in the sea off Sumatra island, appeared to have been borne by Padang town where 376 people were killed. Four other districts accounted for the remaining deaths.

The region was jolted by another powerful earthquake Thursday morning, causing damage but no reported fatalities.

More than 500 buildings including hotels, schools, hospitals and a mall were destroyed or damaged in Padang. Thousands of people were believed to be trapped in the rubble.

"Oh God, help me! help me!" Friska Yuniwati, a 30-year-old woman, screamed in pain, as she was carried to an ambulance in downtown Padang. She had been pulled out minutes earlier from the rubble of a house, her face covered in bruises and eyes shut.